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When the idea of commercial space flights with human bodies on board became more serious, Urquieta wanted to be involved. More specifically, he wanted to be fully immersed. So, he applied for a spot inside the HERA, where he could conduct first-person medical research during a month of isolation.
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Urquieta would spend the next 10 years at Baylor College of Medicine as the chief medical officer for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health. His experiences in unique living labs had given him the background to manage medical research for public and private spaceflight missions to the moon and Mars.
And then came the perfect match. When Urquieta heard about UCF leveraging its research capabilities, broad expertise and proximity to Cape Canaveral to bring the futuristic SpaceU brand into the active present, he saw it as his next logical step.
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Urquieta is far from alone. His team in the College of Medicine is collaborating with 12 other colleges at UCF, working on advances in fields like computer science, engineering, optics and photonics, and psychology.
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